Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Federal Statistical Research Data (FSRDC) seek a forthcoming or recent PhD as a Postdoctoral Research and Extension Associate to explore the business dynamics of rural businesses in the United States, with particular attention to entrepreneurial activities conducted by military veterans (“vetrepreneurs”). The associate will collaborate with a research team comprised of senior researchers and Extension professionals from Texas A&M AgriLife, Texas A&M University, and Baylor University on a research project conducted with the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers.

In the FSRDC, the associate will work with the Longitudinal Business Database (over 8M observations annually), the Integrated Longitudinal Business Database (over 20M observations annually), the Survey of Business Owners (about 1M observations quinquennially), the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (about 0.2M annually), and the American Community Survey (about 5M observations annually), among other datasets. These databases will allow for tracking of business and business owner demographic microdata over time. They will also be merged with public data on other community characteristics. Following initial data management activities, the associate will execute the following activities:

Model specification analysis and discussion in the FSRDC

Prepare and collaborate on numerous refereed journal articles including, but not limited to, the following broad topics:

Actively engage with the research team to develop Extension curriculum, programming, and training

Contributions to proposal development workshops and Texas RDC research presentations

Participate in development and completion of additional FSRDC projects

May participate in proposals to obtain external funding

The position will be appointed for twelve months, and pending performance review, extended up to 24 months. Through the experience with the research team and the FSRDC, the associate will complement the strong disciplinary training of their PhD program with exposure to a broad range of sciences and learning-by-doing in rural development Extension curriculum design and pilot testing.

The position will be located in College Station, Texas, though the Extension programming will be nationwide, allowing the successful candidate to build a national profile.

At the end of their post-doctoral experiences, the research and extension associate will enjoy a network of senior academic and policy colleagues from which they may launch a successful career as a faculty member or policy analyst.

The research associate will be compensated commensurate with recent PhDs in their field of study and will have access to health care benefits.

Location of Activities:

The successful candidate will be expected to relocate to Texas and will be provided with offices on the Texas A&M University (TAMU) campus and in the Texas FSRDC in College Station, in close proximity to mentors within the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and FSRDC. TAMU is distinctive as a student-focused, land-grant, research university, that provides an excellent education at a top-ranked institution by combining teaching, research, and Extension in a rich learning environment. TAMU is listed in the National Science Foundation’s top 20 in several areas.

The position will involve travel to the TAMU FSRDC, located on campus in College Station, and to conferences related to the topics addressed by the associate. Travel in and out of state is necessary to fulfill job responsibilities.

This position is supported by the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Award number 2018-68006-27641.

Minimum Requirements:

ABD in Agricultural Economics, Economics, or related field, completed by the date of the first day of employment.

Demonstrated interest in topics addressed in project description.

Strong English written and verbal communications skills.

The associate will need to pass a background check and have spent three of the previous five years in the United States, as required to gain access to a Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC).

Working knowledge of Stata, SAS, or related statistical software available in the FSRDC environment.

Desired Qualifications:

PhD in Agricultural Economics, Economics, or related field, completed by the date of the first day of employment.

Academic record of publications related to the issues to be address in project description.

Demonstrated skills in quantitative analysis.

Demonstrated ability to synthesize academic inputs from a wide array of sources.

Understanding of the land grant university system.

Experience working in the FSRDC system or with other systems involving large datasets.

The following information is copied from http://www.lonestar.edu/cdi.htm. If you are interested in supporting your community and local businesses, I encourage you to attend this great program!

Improving Communities and Increasing Opportunities

Never before has the practice of community development been more important than it is today. As the world grows smaller through the increased use of global communications, communities of all sizes are finding their boundaries are expanding beyond their city limits. CDI Texas provides practical, interactive, and comprehensive training designed to meet the needs of economic and community development professionals working in a fast paced environment. CDI Texas builds the capacity of individuals and communities to effectively and positively impact economic and social development.

Who Should Attend?

Participants include community and economic development practitioners, city, county and state officials and community volunteers, non-profit staff and board members, chamber staff, private industry, municipal districts, and academics will find the Institute a valuable learning tool for the development of individual and community leadership skills. Attendees will expand their ability to identify community assets, set goals, encourage collaboration, and respond to a broad range of economic and quality of life issues.

Curriculum

The complete program consists of three, one-week training sessions. In addition to learning from successful practitioners, CDI also offers valuable networking and peer-to-peer learning opportunities. Each CDI site offers the core curriculum courses listed below in addition to other course offerings based on site needs and demographics.

Year 1
Focus is on the foundations of community development and includes group simulations providing participants with a better understanding of the challenges and benefits of a community development approach.
• Asset-Based Community Development
• Community Development Assessments
• Community and Economic Development Practice
• Community Visioning and Strategic Planning
• Team Building

Year 2
Emphasis is placed on the “nuts and bolts” of implementing economic development strategies, including business attraction, expansion and retention, and entrepreneurship. Overview of commercial and industrial development projects and group simulations are learning tools for this course.
• Building Entrepreneurial Communities
• Business Retention and Expansion
• Business Site Selection Process
• Community and Economic Development Finance
• Understanding Community Economies

Year 3
Focus is on implementing the knowledge gained in previous years plus acquiring skills in leadership, marketing and organizing the community development effort.
• Understanding Local Development Organizations
• Marketing Your Community
• Measuring Progress
• Workforce Planning and Development Finance

CDI Advanced

The Advanced Year focuses on the application of community and economic development principles in a real-world setting. This two-day training is designed for individuals who have completed all three years of CDI as well as for non-CDI alumni working in the field who want to stay current with trends and best practices. Completion of Advanced CDI is recognized by the CDC for education requirements, training, work experience and eligibility criteria for re-certification.

PCED Certification

Enhance your career by becoming a Professional Community and Economic Developer (PCED). CDI helps prepare you for this nationally-recognized certification offered through the Community Development Council (CDC). Application and eligibility information are available at cdcouncil.com. Pre-registration for the exam is required 45 days in advance. The PCED is optional and not required for CDI attendance.

Registration and Attendance

The cost to attend CDI Texas is $600. The Advanced course is $350 for CDI alumni and $400 for non-CDI participants. Registration fee covers training, participant materials, and breakfast, lunch and refreshment breaks daily. Accommodations and other food costs are the responsibility of the participant. All sessions will be held at the Lone Star Community Building located at 5000 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77381.

Attendance at all sessions is required to earn full credit. If a participant misses more than 10 percent of the course sessions, credit for course completion will not be given. Completion of CDI earns one PCED certification or re-certification point.

The NCRCRD hosted virtual focus groups of professionals working with rural businesses (home based, retail, and manufacturing). The virtual interactions included polls and open-ended questions with participants from around the nation. Open-ended responses were analyzed with qualitative software using the community capitals as an organizing framework. Responses indicate substantial differences in business needs and challenges across sectors. The project was supported by the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Award number 2017-67023-26242.

Growth of the U.S. Latino population translates into policy interest of how business owner, firm, and local characteristics may be different for Latinos. To explore ethnicity and business ownership, this study merges restricted-access data from 11 million businesses. Multinomial logistic regression estimates how characteristics associate with the probability of the business being Latino-owned relative to White-owned, Black-owned, or Asian-owned. There are differences in the source and amount of start-up funds, gender, and the sector of the business. The differences depend on the group to which Latinos are being compared; for example, manufacturing firms are less likely to be Latino owned than White owned, but more likely to be Latino owned than Black owned. An exception is college education and rurality; Latino owners are consistently less likely to be college educated and more likely to locate in rural areas than the other ethnic minorities. The results should be helpful to groups attempting to improve Latino business outcomes.

To read more, read the full article here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0891242418785466

A team of researchers have received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create guidelines to better assist rural military veteran business owners.

Dr. Craig Carpenter, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist in College Station, is leading a group looking to identify business entrepreneurship opportunities for rural U.S. military veterans.

Read the full article here: https://today.agrilife.org/2018/08/17/agrilife-extension-economist-leads-rural-military-entrepreneurship-study/

My colleague and I employ U.S. Census Bureau data from cities of 10,000 or more to examine the impact of immigrants in American cities on self-employment and median income. The results show that self-employment has a statistically significant and positive impact on median income and immigrant population. When controlling for race populations, lagged immigrant population has a negative impact on self-employment, but removing the Hispanic control causes this relationship to become statistically insignificant. In other words, Hispanics, not other ethnicities, drive much of the self-employment in U.S. cities. An implication is that more attention to helping Hispanic business owners succeed and expand their businesses could benefit the general population of a city.

For more, the full academic journal article is here: http://www.jrap-journal.org/pastvolumes/2010/v47/jrap_v47_n2_a1_carpenter_loveridge.pdf

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a great video explaining how to generate a business report about your potential customers and other businesses like yours for your area or a new market using the Census Business Builder. Check it out below:

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a great video on how to access your local community’s data! Discover an easy way to access socioeconomic, housing, and demographic statistics for you community in the short and accessible video below:

Do you work with retail businesses, for example providing training or consulting services related to business or financial planning, marketing, customer service, or other support services?

We are excited to announce a web-discussion on “Retail Businesses: Resources, Challenges, and Factors Influencing Success.” Your experiences and perspective will provide valuable information as we assess different approaches to help communities identify local industries with strong opportunities and better support those businesses.

Because the webinar will be structured as a discussion, you will learn about what your colleagues nationally are doing and we will share some of the latest statistics and research on local factors that contribute to business success. We hope to learn from your experiences and share that information with others.

Please let us know if you are interested in joining us for this exciting opportunity by completing the information below including the section, “Please tell us about yourself.” Because we desire a two-way exchange, space is limited. Once we hear from everyone, you will receive a confirmation on the date and time of your scheduled webinar.

This web discussion is part of a larger project “Mapping Economic Opportunity in Rural America: Mining Big Data for Decision Making in Business Development.” This project is supported by the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), grant number 2016-10918. The research was reviewed by the Texas A&M University Institutional Review Board (IRB2017-0056).

To learn more about the larger research and Extension project, visit the announcement at ow.ly/JmNz30cz94I.

If you are interested in volunteering to participate, please reply to Dr. Craig Carpenter (ccarpenter@tamu.edu) with the following information by May 7, 2018. We will select among the common availability to place you into a focus group.

PLEASE INDICATE ALL DATES AND TIMES YOU ARE AVAILABLE. Based on the responses, we will select one date and time for your participation.